Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 May 1898 — POLICS OF THE DAY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

POLICS OF THE DAY

BY HESCOTT

CHAPTER VII —(Continued.) From the date on which Elinor Kellogg had declared to her son that she had fathomed the mystery of her sister-in-law’s sufferings, she more and more assumed the management of the invalid. She indeed so completely ingratiated herself into the good will of.tbe banker’s wife, and was so tender and solicitous in her attentions, that that lady was only satisfied when she was by her side. Janette had been nearly heart-broken at having her place so much usurped, as she almost considered it. And more than once, with tears in her eyes, she had said to her mother: “Oh, mamma, I cm with you so little since Aunt Elinor came. I wish I could read to you as I used to all day.” “Darling,” would be the reply, “you were fading away under the confinement; I cannot permit it- longer. It is as .fortunate for you as for me that your aunt came.” “Was it fortunate, mamma? I sometimes doubt my aunt’s motives.” “She has no motives, dearest; no wish bnt to alleviate my sufferings and to see me restored to health. I fear you are a little jealous, my love. Do not cry, dear. You shall attend me as many hours each day as I think will be well for you. You know how I love you.” “More than you do aunt, mamma?” “Far more, my precious. You are my own sweet child.” After one of these conversations, Janette, kneeling by her mother’s side, would have her cry out; but her sunny nature and her mother’s - caresses would soon chase the tears away, after which she would remain happy until she again thought that the widow was too much abridging her rights. Somehow she did not repose full confidence in her aunt. Laura, being two years the elder and having since her mother's illness been accustomed to direct the household affairs, had necessarily spent less time in her company. Not that she was less devoted to her mother than was Janette, but there was another on whom a fair share of the affections of her heart was bestowed—one not of the immediate family—her betrothed. Therefore the idea that the widow was gradually slipping in between herself and her mother, did not find lodgment in her brain, as it had in Janette’s. Thalia Kellogg, strange to state, from the date that the widow in her room was perusing a chapter in a certain work headed “The Effects of Morphine on the Human System,” had not again been found by her husband in as nervous a condition as on that evening before 'referred to. She, singularly, had no recurrence of those weak, nervous spells from which she had so lqpg suffered. He* eyes were much brighter. Her brain seemed more active. She evidenced more of a disposition to hold conversation—actually seemed light-hearted, and to the great joy of her husband and children, was able not only t§ sit in her favorite rocking chair before one of the windows of her room, but to walk from her bed to it unaided. The banker attributed this wonderful change in his wife's condition to the unceasing attention of his sister-in-law. He may have attributed it rightly. As the weeks passed after this happy improvement, Mr. Kellogg began to wonder that she did not gain in strength more rapidly. She apparently had reached a point where improvement had ceased. Surely she seemed to hold what she had gained; in fact her eyes—large blue eyes —grew brighter yet, and she seemed daily more animated and hopeful. So she continued. The doctor called occasionally, but stated that she was in better hands than his, and as he had been for six years endeavoring to restore her to health, Mr. Kellogg coincided with his opinion. Nevertheless he prescribed a tonic. September and October passed with no further change at the banker’s. The evening of November eleventh found the invalid in a yet more cheerful mood than usual. At four o’clock on the morning of tbe twelfth, there was a hasty tapping on the door of the banker’s room. “Come in.” The door was opened. “Oh, my dear brother, it is I, Elinor! Come—come at once—your'wife! Your loved wife! My heart is broken. She is dead, dead, dead!” And the madam flew rapidly up tbe stairway. “Impossible!” exclaimed Mr. Kellogg, leaping from his couch and hastily adjusting a dressing gown and slippers. In one minute he was bending over the still form of his wife. “Alas,” exclaimed the bereaved man, “it is too true—my loved wife is no more! So sudden, so sudden! Were you with her, sister?” “No, my dear brother,” said the weeping madam. “I have usually stepped in two or three times in the course of the night to see how she was resting. I did so at twelve o’clock and found her seemingly sleeping peacefully. At four o’clock I found her thus!” “Dr. Hewit should he ” “I requested Earl to summon him. He is now descending the stairs.” “He can do nothing.” “Your ioved daughters and son—shall 1 summon them?” “I will break the sad news to poor Robert. Let my daughters rest unconscious of their loss until Dr. Hewit has arrived and taken his departure.” When the doctor arrived great was his surprise. “I am almost at a loss,” he said, “to account for this. Why, she seemed ” The madam was lowering the pillow on which tbe head of the lifeless body rested. An eight-ounce phial, half empty, rolled from beneath it to the carpeted floor. The doctor quickly secured it. “This—why, one of my own prescriptions —one I gave your wifj> six years ago. It cannot be possible!” “I think,” said Elinor, “that she has hud it constantly renewed. Julia; the negro girl, I believe, has been her messenger.” “Do—do you know when it was last renewed. madam?” “I requested my son to summon Julia —ah. here she is now.” “When was this phial last filled, Julia?” asked the doctor. “When did you last take it to the drug store?” “Yesterday mornin’, doctor. Why, my missus ain't ” and Julia burst into' a wail of grief that aroused the banker’s daughters. The doctor for a moment stood like a statue. He paled to the very lips. “Your wife’s death,” he presently said, “was caused by heart failure. She passed away while asleep. Her death was painless. I deeply sympathize With you in your affliction.” The physician took his departure, bearing with him the half empty phial. Once on the sidewalk he exclaimed: “My God, for six long years killing herself, aud I, her attending physician, knowing nothing of it * Six long years and a sufficient quantity in twelve hours to have killed a dozen men whose systems were not saturated with it. I feel very culpable, and yet why should I? The directions on the phial were plain. What victim of the morphine habit adheres to directions? And she, poor woman, knew not what she was taking—she only knew that the remedy rendered her insensible to pain. I have been blind, blind! I should have removed the phial wh?tt I changetj the prescription;' God pardon

me. Oh, cursed, enrsed drug! And jet what would we do without it? Heart failure, heart failure—yes, heart stilled in death by my ” The doctor entered his carriage and was rapidly driven away. We will not dwell on the painful scene when the daughters entered the room of death, bnt tarn to other characters of onr drama. George Howard, the old bank teller, had removed to Boston, and Earl notv filled the position he had left vacant. Thus far he had filled it in a satisfactory manner. Robert was yet in the speculative field, bnt had not succeeded in cornering Chicago’s young Board of Trade. The banker had withdrawn all opposition to & future marriage between bis daughter Laura and Lawrence Terry, and the happiness of the young couple was only marred by the recent sad bereavement that had befallen them. There • was, however, a cloud in the horizon that they wot not of.

CHAPTER VIH. Stephen Kellogg, after the body of his wife had been laid in the grave, wrote his brother Amos of her death. He stated in his letter how untiring Elinor had been in her care of tbe invalid, but did not particularize concerning the malady that had taken her off. , A few days later he received a letter of condolence from his brother, from which we quote the following: “Do not fail to at once write me all the particulars of y.our wife’s last illness, and fully in regard to her death. You state that her demise was the result of heart failure —the heart failure was superinduced by what? Have you full confidence in the physician who attended her? Write me his statement in regard to'the ease.” The banker was greatly surprised when he read what we have quoted from his brother’s letter. He rose from his arm chair and paced the floor of his private office in a state of no little agitation. “I cannot understand it!” he exclaimed. “Why should Brother Amos desire all of the particulars of my wife’s last illness? Why does he wish more information in regard to her sad death? Why a knowledge as to what superinduced the failure of her loving heart to throb with the quick pulsations of life? Why to know if I have full confidence in the physician who attended her? All this he desires a knowledge of and at once. I am completely at sea! “Why, I could scarcely give him all the information he asks. I had best request Dr. Hewit to write my brother in person; but no, he has been too good a friend; for many years our family physician—l would not have him know of my brother's wild suspicions that Thalia was in the hands of one incompetent. 1 have all confidence in the physician who treated my wife. “The heart failure was superinduced by —by—why, six years of an invalid life—a gradual weakening of all the forces of the body; by—well, I will write Amos at once and set his mind at rest. It was the will of God. “Strange, though, how my wife rallied for two months previous to her death, then died suddenly; but such is heart failure. People even drop dead on Chicago’s streets from failure of the heart to perform its functions.” Mr. Kellogg wrote a lengthy letter to his North Carolina brother, the contents of which, it must be presumed, somewhat tranquilized that gentleman’s mind; for when, a few days later, seated in the library of his Southern home, he had perused it, the troubled look that for some days had clouded his countenance, disappeared as if by magic, aud the words “Thank God!” escaped his lips. A strange expression from one who had just read a detailed statement of the last illness and death of a brother’s wife! Elinor Kellogg, after the demise of her sister-in-law, became a yet more important personage in the banker’s household. The two young ladies clung to her in their affliction as the one who had nursed and loved their mother. Even the prejudice that had been growing in Janette’s heart faded away, and she found comfort in her deep grief, in the arms of Elinor Kellogg. The banker was somewhat surprised the morning Howard, the bank teller, had informed him that he must sever his connection with the bank; but on being informed that a wealthy uncle of that gentleman had recently died, leaving him a large estate in Boston, he congratulated his old employe and cast his eyes about for some one to fill his place. He finally decided to entrust the duties to Ehri. “True,” he thought, “he is young and practically without experience, but Terry can post him. He will soon be an adept. He must be honest. At least I will give the young man this chance. Lawrence carries the only key to the vault save mine. “Robert is yet dealing in futures on the Board of Trade. The Lord only knows what else he is doing; but I have faith he will come out all right. He can wait. There is plenty of time for him. He has no widowed mother to support and will one day inherit a fair share of my fortune. Yes, let it be Earl. How Elinor will be pleased!” We have seen that the widow’s son secured the position, and there we find him six months later, almost an adept, as the banker had predicted, telling over the bills of depositors at the receiving window. “The Great Western Bank” at that day was the general repository of an excess of funds of the banks of hundreds of smaller cities and towns throughout the Northwest, and in the regular order of business, that institution both received and shipped by express many thousands of dollars each day. By reason of the almost constant and continued failure of State banks from one end of the country to the other, in those days, it was necessary to use great .caution, not only in receiving money, but in making up packages for shipment. It was the custom of this particular bank, and doubtless of many others, to fill a tabulated statement of all bills shipped. This statement was made out by the cashier, and enumerated what banks of issue were represented in the shipment. In this manner the banks protected themselves against claims that they had shipped bills of defunct banks.or bills on which there was a discount. It was the further custom of the express companies on being notified to send a trusted agent to the bank to receive and receipt for packages of money for shipment. The agent’s duty was to check over the bills with the cashier before receipting for the same, and as will be seen in the ensuing chapter, this was a wise precaution, but nevertheless no guarantee against loss. (To be continued.)